Intangible Pendulum
by Nispedana
Summary: AU. Fem! L A story about a girl who found herself in another world, a world much younger than her own... and yet, paradoxically, the only place where she could find herself once more. Semi-political.
1. Glimpse

This was originally a Prince of Tennis fic, but I thought the genre doesn't suit the fandom, so I moved it to here. I changed a _lot_ of course, since the characters were very different. Be warned that this is an AU fic, and there would be no Death Note. And Please don't hesitate to review! You can be as honest as you can. (:D

**DISCLAIMER: **I WISH I own the Death Note Characters

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**CHAPTER I: Glimpse**

It was a dark stormy night in Tokyo, Japan - strong cold winds vehemently hitting everything in its way, the incessant downpour of semi-acidic water following its path. In its midst ran a young girl with beautiful jet black hair, which at the moment was certainly getting in the way of her scurry. The countless leaves of numerous trees in their backyard rustled crazily, too, as if making their point: that she was not going to be left alone. Not now, not by her best friend.

She wished he would leave her alone, at least for now. She knew he would not hurt her unlike he hurt _them_. The other was truly the sole person they trusted so she knew he was especially hurt at what she was doing.

"Lawliette..." he called softly, with most of his unruly raven hair getting into his face. "Please stop."

He paused, thinking that maybe she was running because _he_ was. "I promise I won't hurt you."

And she did halt her steps, but she did not turn around. "I know you won't." she said sternly, making Beyond Birthday's crooked back straighten up a bit. For the first time that day, he felt the pain in his feet from all the sharp rocks he had passed by barefooted.

Lawliette let out a deep breath in an attempt to compose herself. She had known this person since she was a child, they were adopted into a family of famed scientists and a lot were expected of them. They did not disappoint- in fact they exceeded these expectations.

And what Beyond did was certainly unexpected as well. Killing one of her acquaintances right in front of her was too much. But in the end that was not the reason why she ran. After all, she knew he would not hurt her. He would turn himself in, if she had asked him to.

She was running because she thought her sense of justice was impeccable. She knew the right thing to do was bring justice to this acquaintance and turn B in. But at the moment, she did not want that.

But most importantly? She had, in a duration of a few hours, had witnessed just what humans could do with one another.

She had been naive. And now that her justice was being tested she was failing miserably. It felt like she had been woken up from a dream- and with that nice dream being her life so far. She had been pulled to reality.

She halted her steps when she reached their favorite pond. How far had she ran...? To reach this place which they found together after getting lost during a field trip.

She forced herself together- hopefully back to her usual, stoic self. To normal people, she really did look just that: Unemotional, just like B. But they knew each other too well. They could see it in the other's supposedly apathetic black orbs- the engulfing terror.

She tirned around and saw him just standing there, waiting for a chance to come closer. It was depressing how he had to treat her like some kind of tortured animal. They just stared at each other and watched each others' faces get battered continuously by the rainfall- to watch as their long hair flew tediously with the wind.

"I promise I will go to jail for what I did. But I don't want to become enclosed without settling things with you."

"But why did you do it?"

"Why? He-"

"I know what he did to me. I don't understand why you would dirty your hands for that."

"He tried to _hurt_ you." he squeaked.

"But Matt wasn't able to."

"Because I killed him." he snapped. "I can't believe you're still referring to him by name."

She recalled what he tried to do. was a rather cocky boy, but they ended up dating anyway. She saw the good in him, but even for such an intelligent man... his human impulses had overcome him. Beyond had arrived just in time before he did anything.

But he, too, was overcome by his human impulses. She had never seen him so angry before- and before they knew it, blood was spilled. Something unthinkable had been done.

"He didn't deserve to die."

She almost said he didn't deserve to go to jail, as well. But that wasn't true- and that sudden thought made her fearful for what was truly in her heart even more.

She felt cowardly again, and reflexively stepped back.

-completely forgetting the fact that there was no longer any ground to step on.

And so, she fell. Thinking she finally got what she deserved.

...

The rocky pond was very shallow, she knew, and falling back like that would be extremely painful... if not lethal. She had already prepared herself for the pain. She even bit her lip as a poor attempt to hamper her imminent scream. Lawliette waited for what felt like forever, but it never came.

Instead she was pulled back incessantly by what she initially thought was just gravity. She opened her eyes immediately feeling the sting of the water and blinked the pain away- soon seeing that she was _at least_ 10 feet below the water. And she was going deeper, too, realizing the effects of the water pressure on her tiny body a little too late. The pain was so much more than she could have imagined. It was not just her ears; her whole body felt like it was going to implode. She wanted to scream her whole heart out but she had no strength to utter anything.

She just paddled like hell but she never knew how to swim and she was starting to run out of air. It felt like the world was pushing itself against her from all directions and it was too excruciating to even utter into words. Empty tears came out of her eyes and mixed with the ever-changing waters that engulfed her body.

At that moment, she was definitely sure she was going to die.

But then by some miracle she started to float, and she deduced as soon as she realized that the reason she wasn't dead yet that it was because of the salt. Too much salt - to the point that the water was practically composed of it.

She let herself passively get pushed up by the buoyancy and took in as much air as she could get the instant she was above the water. She straightened up and realized that the area of the water she was standing was no more than 5 feet deep - and she was relatively far from the shore line... She looked around and it was like a small lake surrounded by a dense forest. She licked her lips to taste a drop of the water. Her eyes twitched at the hideous taste: the water was on par with the Dead Sea in salinity – or maybe even saltier.

Lawliette looked around again, pinched herself, and uncharacteristically batted her eyelids at the rate of 100 blinks per second. She let out a deep, deep, _deep _breath as she tried to absorb whatever was happening to her and what she was seeing.

It seemed that at the moment, she appeared to be 'swimming' on a lake when she fell on a pond, surrounded by trees that was not supposed to exist in Japan… and what? The storm just decided to disappear at the rate of 20 seconds?

She must have gone insane.

That must be it. And she brooded over her insanity until she had heard soft rustling of leaves from her west, pulling her out of her trance. Lawliette flinched, but with her incredible hearing, she could calculate that she had just the right amount of time to hide behind a huge rock by the earth.

She immediately 'swam' to the shore, did what she planned, and patiently waited for something to happen. She wanted to make sure it was safe first, of course, before revealing herself. And not a moment too soon, the cause of the disturbance revealed herself- a little girl wearing a huge coat and a very anxious expression.

The girl looked suspiciously around as she took out a small ceramic shaped like an uncapped bottle of coke. She carefully took some of the water from the lake Lawliette was at. It was odd, the way she took it told L that the water was dangerous. To that girl, anyway. If it really was, then she had a lot more things to worry about.

She let her mind wonder about all the possibilities as she passively watched the girl at the same time. She didn't notice, though, that she was in such a daze that she also just watched the small girl walk away from the lake and into that dense forest.

She winced and immediately ran after the girl. For now, she just needed to talk to _someone_ regardless of who it is. Then again- maybe she doesn't. That maybe if she did, she'd just show everyone how crazy she was-

_THUMP_

She was just running straight and the next thing she knew she was on the ground. "Ouch..." she whispered as she massaged her legs. A big pair of hands appeared in front of her face, seeming as if it was extended to help her get up. She abruptly stopped whatever she was doing, took it, and was effortlessly held back up.

"Thank you." She smiled before she actually tilted her head upwards to look at the hand's owner.

It was a boy- not much older than her, she could tell, but definitely older by more or less 5 years. He had shiny bronze hair partnered wonderfully with his beautiful umber eyes- Although… he wore an expression Lawliette knew all too well. She had been wearing it herself. Like she was, the mysterious boy didn't change his expression even when he had begun talking.

"Drunghk Judhwick Luz Hgormusch."

"Pardon?" She asked again. That was _not_ German or any language she was familiar with. She hoped that this guy could speak English, but maybe he _was_ already speaking English. Maybe her hearing just got impaired as well.

But there was something in his tone that was just plain... rude.

"Yhugss Mutrupf." He stated keeping his unfathomable expression. She saw a questioning and confused look in his eyes, though. But it was mostly... blank. Both in expression and something... basic.

But then, he seemed to have dismissed her existence and walked past her. Honestly, she was not surprised. That apathetic aura he wore certainly gave off the feeling that he would not care even if she were to suddenly die in front of him.

Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. But from what she had witnessed a few hours prior she really didn't think of that scenario as impossible anymore. She grabbed his arm, and the boy coldly looked at her- forcing her to speak her thoughts.

"Where am I?" she voiced out, a little intimidated. The boy raised an eyebrow and looked even more analytical than before. Lawliette was an aspiring scientist- but his eyes was just so blank yet so bluntly calculating that she wasn't sure how to react.

What was with his issues with hair, anyway? She had sensed him eyeing it for quite some time now... was it _that_ unruly? Or maybe he was just overtly over-compulsive. Then again, it might just be both.

"Ghukschmesh." He said with the same monotonous voice, and still she didn't understand what he said. Not logically. But intuitively? She was impressed. He wasn't even moving, he just spoke up- but she had an idea of what he was trying to say.

He said 'speak'.

And so after a surprisingly few amount of hand gestures, she was able to get through him that she could not understand his language. And then out of nowhere- he sighed. As if another burden had been added to his back. It was true, yes, but he didn't need to show it so bluntly.

They walked in an uncomfortable silence along a walkway for a while until they had reached a tall wall with a gate made of wood in its front. It wasn't huge- only about 4 meters tall with its door no more than 3. What were definitely _large_ were the walls not too far within it. It was elevated so Lawliette could see. Inside the gate came a succession of gates – those of which are getting taller and taller as they go deeper.

There were around 3 more walls inside with the innermost partitions containing a beautiful stone castle similar to medieval European architecture she knew… but not quite. And other than its style – there's the fact that it was so exaggeratedly separated from everything else.

What she was seeing was not in the plethora of History books she had read. Her eyes twitched crazily as she rummaged her supposedly big brain for answers, and yet nothing came. _Where is s-_

"..."

She was pulled out of her confused trance when she sensed her companion staring at her. She smiled lightly (she was thankful he was accompanying her, despite his obvious dislike of the trouble), and held a finger up to point at herself.

"Lawliette." She stated wanting to introduce herself especially since it was the least she could do, and knowing him- she would not be surprised if he just ignored her. This was a totally different culture from what she had known, an unfamiliar place... so she hoped he would not do that. It would be deeply terrifying.

"Light." he said stoically, and she blinked not showing just how thankful she was that he introduced himself. What a name for such a cold guy. She wondered what it meant here. They, once again, entered an awkward silence after that and it was cut by an abrupt external sound.

"_Hya!_" someone shouted from behind them, accompanied by the sound of a galloping horse. Light immediately pulled her back to the forest, and stayed still for a minute. They watched the person, who was followed by a few merchant-looking folks, enter the gate.

Light seemed to have decided that they, too, would have to enter the gate. He took his coat off and handed it to Lawliette. She slowly took it in puzzlement and then she realized she was wearing jeans, plain shirt, and the scarf that B gave her for her birthday, while Light was wearing something altogether different. Aside from the details, it looked very much similar to pre-renaissance fashion she saw from textbooks.

She was _really_ starting to feel even more nervous now. How the hell could she get _here_ – a place she had no idea existed – from a small pond at the back of her home? She shrugged the confusion away for fear that she would bother her companion even more. She wore the coat and let her hair ground itself above its hood.

Light, though, disapproved of this. To her surprise, he shook his head and went closer to her. He held his hands behind her head to place the hood on top of her head.

But Lawliette did not like hoods– they make your head less comfortable- so when he let go she took it back down in an attempt to tell him she does not like hoods. Light sighed and repeated what he did, only this time he held the hood firmly on her head to tell her she _had_ to wear it.

Lawliette stared at him in comprehension, but still didn't understand _why_ she had to.

She looked into his eyes that was, at the time, piercing right through her - as he was still holding her head with his large and warm palms. She pushed the blood slowly rising up to her cheeks down and let out a breath of defeat.

Lawliette decided she would just trust him on this. And much to her surprise…

…she was extremely willing to do so.

…

When they entered the city, Lawliette found herself curiously but reservedly looking around. It was not like her to gape at people, but they were all just so odd to her eyes. Not only were they speaking gibberish, their appearances were also weird. Most of them looked like east-Asian and Caucasian hybrids but one would expect at least _one_ of them would have blonde hair.

What was weirder was that most of them either had different shades of brown hair. Some had red hair, and some even had their hair with shades of orange and red- but the fact that _no one_ had _black_ hair was so odd... After all, she grew up in a pace where most people had very dark hair. She strolled in puzzlement for a while until she saw _them_. 'They' did not have black hair, but it was a very close shade. Deep Dark Brown, like most people in Asia.

They were two boys several years younger than her, passively following a grand carriage galloping its way around town. Many people stopped walking to watch it go by. They were following it religiously, to the point one would think it was their duty to. Lawliette considered that maybe it really _was_...

The boys were also dressed in much simpler and cheaper-looking attires. Lawliette didn't see much to it at first, but then the curtain opened and the person inside threw left-over food at one of the boys. Lawliette flinched, but she immediately froze when she realized no one cared. Some even _laughed_.

"Lawliette." Her companion looked at her coolly as soon as he noticed why she suddenly stopped walking and pulled her away from the sight. For a moment, she saw worry in his eyes. The sight must have surprised him as well for him to let his guard down so much.

She looked at him pleadingly as he led her away. He just shook his head and moved his palm onto her hood to make sure it stayed there. Lawliette then found out why he was so eager to hide her hair. She just looked at the ground in anxiety.

What has she gotten herself into?

**_THUD!_**

_"_Bakeruyo!" A man, who seemed to be in a hurry, bumped into them. He was frowning and he was probably saying "Watch out, dumbasses!" and Light's darkening expression confirmed that fact. He grabbed the man's arm and sent him a fake smile. The man didn't sense this, and Lawliette felt relieved that even when Light never smiled at her- at least it wasn't fake. He was using a very... political tone of voice and the man apologized awkwardly after._  
_

Light intrigued her. He definitely did. And as they walked around town, with the vendors offering their products- she noted how he acted with other people. He was being _friendly_, but it was just a pretense. Was _she_ that annoying that he didn't even try being nice to her?

Well actually, he was (in a sense) being nice. Going through all this trouble to take her... somewhere she didn't know about. But as untrustworthy as that sounded, L felt an odd feeling of connection with him.

She trusted him completely. She truly believed he was helping her out.

Even when she had no idea how.

...

They stopped at a simple looking house that pretty much looked like everybody else's - like ancient townhouses with a mix of forms similar from what she had seen in cultures experiencing similar climates, that was, northern parts of the world. It had that classic medieval feel but there was an odd addition of Asian elements like that waving shape of the roof as to 'ward off' evil spirits.

Light looked around before going closer to the door to knock, and most people would think he was part of a syndicate of sorts. L only considered that as a joke though, it was odd how sure she was that he was doing nothing that would hurt her. Or was it just wishful thinking on her part...?

A moment later, it opened revealing a pretty woman around her late 30s. She was very lean with hair having the same shade as Light's, but that was the only thing similar between them. Especially their facades... which couldn't be anymore different. The woman had an unmasked shocked face as she looked at them alternatively, while Light hid his surprise well. The woman was evidently shocked to see Light. She was shocked to see the odd girl with black hair. And she was shocked to see them _together_. And their looking utterly comfortable with each other did not lessen her fervent emotions.

She took time to realize how rude she was for looking at them like that- but she couldn't help it. After finally pulling her gaze away, she immediately looked around to see if there were any guards on other suspicious-looking people around. Her search was stopped when Light reassured her that he already checked. She backed away immediately to let them enter her home.

"Hushhe."

_Come in._

Inside, Lawliette watched their conversations intently. She could not understand the dialogues, but she knew by their tone of voices and expressions how urgent the conversation was.

The woman looked scared – very scared, but Light reassured her that it would be alright. Lawliette sensed he was almost pleading though and she gulped guiltily at that fact. He was negotiating, but she could tell his smile was not fake. It was weak- but it was genuine. She mentally gaped at her self at the fact that she wanted to see more of it.

"Esue." he said, and she quickly composed herself and walked to their direction.

Light shifted his gaze towards the older woman and said something again. The woman looked at them alternatively in confusion. After a moment of pondering, she finally said something with a defeated tone of voice that caused Light to gentle his hold of hers, slightly.

Lawliette's expression softened, as well.

Whatever they were talking about, the older woman finally agreed.

...

The older woman introduced herself as Ylanna before she took her upstairs so that she could change into a more fitting outfit. It was a simple beige skirt several inches below the knee. Ylanna combed her hair and then said something that sounded like a compliment. She replied what Light told her before - their thank you, and the woman flinched in surprise before smiling fondly at made a sound with her hand, and Lawliette nodded.

Ylanna found out she could hear, after all. She then led her back downstairs, apparently to eat.

Lawliette walked down and saw that Light was staring at her with what she saw as a mixture of relief and gladness. She smiled lightly at him, effectively getting him to do the same... you know, in his standards.

The older woman cleared her throat and led them towards the small dining table.

After eating in silence – well maybe not completely since they had to teach Lawliette how to use the utensils properly, she was lucky it was similar to the spoon and fork- Light said something to the older woman whose then-passive expression turned into one of worry. Lawliette wished she understood what they were talking about, but then how could she?

Light walked towards her wearing his usual stoic facade. Lawliette saw disappointment in his eyes, and she knew he probably didn't know he was showing it- so she decided not to tell him for fear that he would harden his guard. Finally, she shook away the sadness that poked _her_, when she saw him like that. He uttered a word that Lawliette felt could only mean 'Good-bye', and immediately went to the door.

Lawliette did not want him to go- but she had no right to tell him. But she, at least, wanted to say her thanks. So she ran to him before he reached the door and grabbed his arm to stop him from walking. He stopped and then looked at her expectantly. She was about to bow, but then she recalled that it may mean something totally different here so she just gave him a smile.

"Arigatou Gozaimasu, Light."

And so, Light returned the greeting with a slight nod soon leaving the room.

Somehow hoping that this was not the last time they meet, after all.

…

CITY CENTER

Several minutes had passed since he left the house, and Light had finally reached the inner walls without anyone noticing. He knew quite a bit of passages, thanks to his past adventures to the outside world with his late mother. But before he entered the final and most important wall that led to the palace- he paused and held up the piece of clothing that had been with him (and her) the whole day.

He looked at it and unconsciously held it even tighter. Who would've thought that sneaking out would lead to him meeting someone like _her_.

He recalled how she looked at him and felt that she could see through- something that had never happened before. A moment when they met- he even considered ignoring her. Someone who could see through you could be a very dangerous existence, especially for someone like him.

But then he realized how helpless she was. He was skeptical at first, for how could a girl her age not understand what he was literally talking about?

He was even raised to be decorous to _anyone_, but somehow he didn't feel that he needed to with her. He showed her (or rather, she saw effortlessly) his cold and calculating side. Something he hid for the sake of self-preservation. He was puzzled by his reluctance to do what was logical: keeping his distance.

But there was something about her that told him she was not like anyone he had met. He could trust her.

He smiled internally. Maybe he should sneak out a little more often.

Just for the sake of curiosity, of course.

Even if it meant inducing his step-mother's wrath.

.  
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**END OF CHAPTER I**

_**Coming Soon:  
**_**CHAPTER II: The Road I**

What happened with Lawliette back in Japan? Light has a step mother? And what could he be doing heading to the palace?**  
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	2. Passage

Thank you for everyone who read so far! Especially those who reviewed, subscribed, faved and C2d this story.

Please don't hesitate to comment on the box at the end of each chapter, okay? I'm fine with reviews, critiques, rants, flames, suggestions, questions, or anything for that matter. Taking the time to type something meant that you had, at least, really read the chapter and that alone meant so much.

**DISCLAIMER: **I WISH I not own the Death Note Characters .

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**CHAPTER II: Passage**

COMMONERS' SECTION, CAPITAL

Inside one of the houses among the plethora of similar looking ones, stayed a mother and her daughter… along with an unexpected guest. And this guest was helping with the house chores. The mother of the house was downstairs cooking their meal, and she was with her several minutes earlier. It was just that when one unintentionally threaten to burn the house every time one got a hold of fire, then it was only natural to expect to get kicked out of the kitchen.

Lawliette sighed and continued sweeping the floor. It was so simple and she definitely had done housework before. But not with her new family, the Wammys, since they had a reservoir of servants. The whole family was supposedly too busy doing non-tedious things like inventing gadgets that would push humanity forward.

Humanity.

The mere word, even if it was out of context, put a heavy burden on her back. She had always been pampered by the family, and she was never exposed to anything unsafe. Witnessing the pinnacle of human sins was too much, even for her.

Did she lose her faith in humanity?

And because of B, too.

Matt certainly made a bad impression as well...

She sighed and shook the thoughts away. She needed to concentrate in the chore at hand. Cleaning the house was pretty much the first thing that she did. It was the only thing she could do without feeling as guilty for free-loading… especially now that the nice woman even offered to teach her the language.

She could not refuse, of course, for if by some chance she was not insane then she had to find a way to get home. She needed to gather information– and for that she needed to know the language. And in retrospect, communicating via gestures was much harder than she had initially thought. It was surprising how easily she managed to get her message through to Light. And curiosity about when he'll come back popped out of her head.

_CREAK_

As if on cue, the door opened revealing a familiar-looking little girl, letting her avoid a rather awkward state of ponder. It was the girl from the lake, no doubt. Her name was Nispedana. She was an adorable little kid (as most children were to Lawliette, albeit she seemed quite allergic to them), with deeply dark brown hair and richly auburn eyes.

She seemed to want to say something and she stiffened up to 'watch' her message. And so about minute of vague gestures later, Lawliette had finally absorbed what she was trying to say. Nispedana was, apparently, sent by her mother to call her so that they could eat dinner. Lawliette nodded and followed her downstairs.

They ate in relative silence, and she inconspicuously watched the mother and daughter interact. It was rude, but there weren't a lot of options when you have no idea what they were speaking about. She could sense it– Nispedana was hiding something. And she felt it had something to do with that lake.

She wondered what she should do, but in any case Lawliette was certain that she needed to learn the language (at least to some degree) first. She wanted to ask and ensure that what the little girl was hiding was nothing dangerous of the sort– it was the least she could really do for them at the moment.

After dinner, Lawliette volunteered to take charge of the dishes- _CLANK!_

Another plate was on the floor, rendered unusable.

_AH._.. She was still too clumsy after all. She apologized to Ylanna vehemently and she awkwardly laughed pointing at her daughter- who tilted her head in wonder. Ylanna said something and Nispedana nodded.

"Nispedana." She called and smiled. The girl tilted her head in wonder. She made a few hand gestures saying that her mother was a very lovely person.

The girl just nodded in puzzlement.

Lawliette mentally gulped and made another few gestures: telling her she should not do anything that would worry her.

The girl's eyes widened several _long _minutes later in understanding. Those shocked eyes- No, they were _terrified_. She managed to mask her fear a bit, but it was no use to Lawliette's analytical eyes as it noted every change in facial curves in her face. Even if Nispedana concluded she had no idea about the lake, she probably still remembered.

Lawliette wondered why, so before she could make an excuse and run away- she held her head, firmly but gently.

The girl looked so scared and her grip suddenly softened- making way for the girl to flee.

Lawliette could only watch her fleeting back with a mix of emotions. She remembered something like this happened before, and it didn't end up nicely.

It was when Matt and her started dating. Dating as in 'going out'. She heard that there was a deep emotion involved for a relationship to be like that, but Matt was a good friend to her so it must have been that.

But then Beyond started acting awkward. He even started avoiding her, but she always went after him. Occasionally she could just watch from afar to give him space, but she never gave up on trying to mend the rift that she caused. She was puzzled at first of course, but she later realized that he must have felt betrayed- probably because she hid it from him.

She continued to go after him, she apologized and asked what she could do to make up. But it was no use- he still kept avoiding her; never quite lacking in smart excuses to escape.

But still... who would've thought things would turn the way they did.

Matt was a good guy. They may have only known him for a little over a year, but they were close. She and B had been isolated from everyone, mostly because of their odd personalities. Matt was the only one who understood them.

But then she saw something else in his eyes. Something she later realized was 'lust'. She had never seen it personally in all her years of living. It was so... disconcerting coming from a person who meant so much to her.

She asked him what he was doing, when she had an intuitive idea of what it was. She could still feel the warmth of his lips on hers and on her neck every time she remembered the events.

She shivered. It was a horrible, horrible feeling.

And she voiced that out.

She was shocked by the pain those few words caused him. He then kept asking questions that she couldn't answer. It was all blurry, as if her brain had been repressing her memories.

_"Why? Why couldn't you just see me that way?"_

Matt's questions resonated through her.

Everything happened so quickly- the pain turned to anger and he resumed to what he was doing an instant later- only with more vehemence and she could not escape.

It was then when Beyond entered and everything turned red.

It was then that the two of them lost their lives.

"LAWLIETTE!"

She was pulled away from her trance by Ylanna shaking her frantically, making her vision blur even more. She blushed immediately and shook her head- bowing in apology. She did not realize the incessant tears overflowing her eyes until she did so, for the wooden floor absorbed her tears.

"I'm sorry." she said, not that Ylanna understood.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry." And she repeated it over and over again.

Ylanna couldn't even speak and Lawliette did not stop. But neither of them were confused of her actions.

For they knew that those apologies wasn't for Ylanna.

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OUTSKIRTS OF THE PALACE

Light had finally passed through the final wall towards his house. The route would end at a hidden spot in a barely used corridor in the ground floor. It was the only passage left remaining since the guards had locked all the others.

It had been ten whole years since he had last come outside – regardless of the fact that he still had a way out. Ten years – _ten_ years had passed since his mother was executed for being accused of poisoning the king. He did not believe the accusations, of course, but all evidence pointed on her.

They never would've thought that their sneaking out to see his Aunt and cousin would be one of those evidences.

She was accused of extracting poison from the cursed lake. His heart constricted every time he remembered his mother's expression before she died. He was desperately crying for him, and she for him – but the guards and the Queen simply covered their ears.

That was the last time he cried.

He couldn't show any sort of weakness anymore. The demeaning stares he received from royals, and even a number of pompous servants, since he was born only intensified. He was the son of a mistress.

Concubines wasn't against the law, not for the King. But the woman was a dark-haired woman. A commoner.

So he, the fruit of their lust, had always been an eyesore. A half-blood: dirty and un-pure.

As if _they_ weren't.

So even when he was still a child, Light understood how the world worked. He developed a deeply calculating attitude in order to survive this hell people from the outside thought was heaven.

And most importantly, he knew... how simply _wrong_ everything was.

And obviously, he was going to change it.

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_Tap Tap Tap_

A handsome lad walked gracefully across the isolated corridor of his proud palace. His posture will tell anyone of how confident he was, and rightfully so- considering his current stature in the country. Heck, in just a few more years and he'd be the highest ranked person of them all.

The boy was gifted with beautiful pale skill, flawlessly proportioned body, an aesthetic facial mole, and the hair color everyone in the world dreamed of having: Gold.

Yes, he was perfect- and he knew it. Everyone had high expectations of him– and he answered them by exceeding those expectations. He was good at everything, he was beautiful, and he was a pure blood. He was perfect.

But the most fitting description?

He was a god.

Everyone definitely treated him that way. Everyone except his brother.

He scoffed at a highly unnecessary recollection of a certain conversation, classically participated in by lowly servants. He wasn't eavesdropping, of course, their voices was just so impertinently loud- as if they weren't standing in the holiest ground in the world.

What was worse was that they were gossiping about _him_. Well, he liked being talked about, yes... but the blasphemy they were chatting about was an exemption:

They said that other than his pale complexion and Blonde hair- he looked _exactly_ like his half-brother.

Once again, he sneered in disgust.

He ordered for their execution without batting an eyelid.

_Creak_

As if purposely pulling him out of his trance he heard a door open. Keigo was really just walking around the palace, bored to death. Every servant of his _tried_ to ease it but at the moment none of them worked even by a little bit. So there he was just walking around looking for inspiration and hoped for _something _interesting to do.

He decided to go to his mother's collection of fine arts – the only things as beautiful as he was.

He never would have thought he would be witnessing _this_ along the way.

A wall painting opened- much like a door would, revealing his half-brother.

"Now, now…" He smirked, hiding his surprised state well. He returned to his usual pompousness, ready for one of his verbal attacks to the half-blood."What could you be doing? I'm rather certain that you weren't hiding from rats. "

Keigo saw Light's eyes widen by a millimeter, and his smirk widened in response. It was extremely rare to see the Light show even a tad of emotion. Unfortunately though, Light quickly (_too _quickly, for Keigo's liking) regained his composure.

"You're right, I was most certainly not."

"So what are you doing there?"

"I do not have the obligation to answer that."

"Yes, you do. It's an order. I'm the crown prince, remember?"

"I am also a Prince, Keigo. Like I said– I have no obligation to answer your questions."

"Yes, you _do_, Light." he said with tone slowly rising, and yet retaining his haughty but cool self. Keigo paused and stared at the other prince, crossing his arms. "Why am I sensing that you're hiding something?"

"You know... other than you coming out of the only hidden passage way left to the exteriors of the palace walls." Keigo added, mentally trying to find ways to answer his puzzlement. He was certain that there should be guards here somewhere. It was left open because he ordered it to- in case Light decided to sneak out (like now) and he could somehow found a way to get rid of him once and for all.

Of course, he didn't live in an anarchic world. He needed more evidence than this. He'd definitely punish those guards, but there was no real decree that Light could not go out. Otherwise his plans on framing him in this type of crime could not have materialized.

"You must be imagining things again, Keigo. We are all aware of the fondness with yourself as well as for attention." Light snapped. But of course, even when he knew he was smarter... Keigo was, unfortunately, given a good enough brain as well. Keigo would not go berserk at him, even when he was just _dying_ to send _him_ to his execution, too.

Just like his mother did to his.

Light had known Keigo tried- and still was trying- to frame him. It was the main reason Light was always wary. But in the end, he was too busy trying to protect himself and trying to learn everything that he needed- even more- these past few years that he barely tried to sneak out during the past years. And so the next thing he knew, it neared his mother's 10th death anniversary.

The brothers stared at each other for a while, taking advantage of the silence to completely regain his composure.

Light knew his brother. He was probably thinking of how to punish those useless guards (that Light skillfully fooled) as well as a good reason to send him to his death. Considering his bloodline, everyone knew it would not take much. A small stimulus would be enough- like attacking the crowned prince, for instance.

"Your mother must be so proud of you- so stupid." he said, trying to provoke him. Light wanted to scoff. He recalled one attempt when they were children- he hurt himself and told everyone it was him. If Light wasn't so calm about it, convincing everyone that he had bathed too much under the sun he would have been dead by now.

Light would not fall for such petty plans- or _any_ attempt, for that matter.

Light could not allow himself to die- not until he had proven his mother's innocence.

But more importantly? Not until they get their sweet revenge.

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**END OF CHAPTER II**

_**Coming Soon:  
**_**CHAPTER III: Revealing Thorns**

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The OC Character (Keigo, inspired by Prince of Tennis' Atobe Keigo) was supposed to be Near. But Near's image in my head remained as Near the kid. It's kind of awkward making love triangles with a kid. So here we are: dividing Light into two of his dominant personas. I found it a good choice, frankly, but feel free to comment on that, too. ;D**  
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**REPLIES TO ANGELS:  
**Replies to those who reviewed since the fandom was changed. If by some chance my old reviewers are still here, I thank you for reviewing that version! (:D

**Marshmallows Rule The World- **I am really glad that you thought so! I hope you liked this update, but you can be honest with me. ;D Thanks for the review~!**  
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Thank you for reading!

I would be so happy to hear what everyone thought! :D**  
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